AEK: The 1st Academy Network Training Seminar and the meeting with Garcia-Amrabad

The work of the first day took place in the OPAP ARENA, specifically in the area where the press conferences are hosted. The participants watched with great interest the presentation made by the General Manager of PAE AEK Ms. Angeliki Arkadis on OPAP ARENA and how it ensures the sustainability of the club with its multi-level use and exploitation.

The educational program was overseen by the Development and Training Manager of the 1st team and Sports Director of the Network, Mr. Ilias Kyriakidis, and the organizer of the seminar was Mr. Leonidas Hatzimichalis.

A key feature of this seminar was the combination of theory and practice at competitive and non-competitive levels, the participation of different qualities in the presentations, and the increasingly high-quality provision of know-how to the partners.

Of course, the main feature of the seminar was again the interactivity. The partners were very talkative and engaging throughout the seminar and especially during the free discussions. Their enthusiasm was evident and their words to continue the cooperation with the same quality and the same human-centered way were particularly honorable for the people of PAE AEK.

Mr. Kyriakidis opened the Saturday program with his introduction, which had as its subject the Annual Programming and the Pillars of the Competition Period 2024-2025, analyzing the annual axes, in which each collaborating Academy must invest, but always with respect to the diversity of needs of each academy and was followed by Ms. Arkadi’s presentation. Then the Network Training Coordinator Mr. Stelios Orphanidis presented his own presentation on the topic of “Long-term Driver / E-book”.

The innovation of the E-book as a long-term guide for the daily smooth operation contains more than 15 chapters (exercise logs, training structure, etc., which will increase and be supplemented. More important, however, is the direct contact. It is worth mentioning here that the first cycle of visits to the collaborating academies of Attica has already been completed and the beginning of the visits to those outside Attica is expected.

Sunday, September 22, was spent mainly on technical issues and specifically on the parameters concerning the physical condition of the young athletes. Two relevant presentations were made by the Academy’s gymnasts Giorgos Papaleontiou (up to K8 and up to K12) and Jason Psarras (up to K16). For greater interaction, children from the Network were used (specifically from Ermis Ano Liosion, symbolically because it celebrates ten years of cooperation with AEK). The goal was to give a more realistic picture of how coaches approach children.

Of course, the highlight was the surprise meeting of the delegates and the young athletes with Levi Garcia and Nordin Amrabat, who were at the training center on Sunday morning. Levi told the representatives of the partnering academies: